The SMH ran two interesting articles about Aussies in the Valley, and why there’s so much brain drain: Brain Drain and Tech Exodus:

“The Australian scene is at least 18 months behind the froth & bubble of the Silicon Valley. Singapore is probably 12 months ahead of of us as well. In terms of the availability of capital and risk appetite we are in the dark ages.

“Australian super funds hold the keys to about $1.2 trillion of which not even a fraction of a per cent is deployed into Australian VC – largely this is in equities – and they fight amongst themselves and are seen to ‘outperform’ on single-digit basis points!

“Private investors are equally risk-averse taking safety in passive investments such as property and cash wherein they see a risk-free return to be 5 per cent per annum compounding. In the majority of advanced economies cash in the bank provides a net negative return. Into the near future there will be no such thing as double digit (percentage) returns for passive, low-risk investments.

“There is no denying that our ‘risk aversion’ and short-sidedness is holding us back as a smart country failing at innovation on the grandest of scales.”

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